BM3Introduction to English Linguistics

Part II

Session 3: Phonology

Contact options & handing in the portfolio:

• A 10 1-103 mail box across the hall (A10)• phone 0441-798 3181• Email: rebecca.carroll@uni-oldenburg.de

All information can be found on my homepage:

www.staff.uni-oldenburg.de/rebecca.carroll

Literature

Fromkin, V., Rodman, R., Hyams, N. (2006). An Introduction to Language. 8th ed. Wadsworth.

Roach, P. (2000). English Phonetics & Phonology – A Practical Course. 3rd ed. Cambridge: CUP.

Ladefoged, P. (2006). A Course in Phonetics. 5th ed.

Hanke, J. & Intemann, F. (2000). The Interactive Introduction to Linguistics. CD ROM. Version 2.0. München: Hueber.

See Handapparat for further introductory books

IPA FontIPA Font

• Download fonts to use for transcription in portfolio: Doulos SIL Font:http://www.sil.org/computing/catalog/show_software.asp?id=91

– Download/ install to your fonts folder– Choose font in your text document – Insert symbols (or define a key combination as short

cut)

Overview: Where are we?

• Phonetics/ Phonology • Morphology• Syntax• Semantics• Pragmatics• Applied Linguistics

(Historical Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Textlinguistics, Psycholinguistics, Neurolinguistics, Computational Linguistics, …)

major areasof (theoretical) linguistics

Phonetic Description of Sounds

• Phonation• Place of articulation• Manner of articulation• Lip rounding

Places of Articulation:the Vocal Tract

Places of Articulation:the Tongue

Center

Bilabial ‘‘Stops‘‘:nasal (velum lowered) vs. oral (velum raised)

bilabial nasal bilabial plosives

Places of Articulation: Consonantal Chart

Places of Articulation:Consonantal Chart

InternationalPhoneticsAssociation

Places of Articulation:Vowels

Diphthongs I: Received Pronunciation (RP)

closing

centering

Diphthongs II: American English

Phonetics vs. Phonology

Phonemes, Phones, & Allophones

Phoneme Head term

Family of speech soundsAllophones

/ /

[phone1] [phone2] [phone3]

Phonemes, Phones, & Allophones

Phoneme

Allophones

/ t /

[tʰ] [ t˺] [tʷ] [tˡ]

Minimal Pairs

Definition:Definition:

Two words with different meanings that differ only in one phoneme in the same position in each word.

e.g. beat vs. meat

here vs. dear

mad vs. man

/biːt/ /miːt//hiːr/ /diːr//mæd/ /mæn/

Your Turn!

The following sets of minimal pairs show that English /p/ and /b/ contrast in initial, medial, and final positions.

Initial Medial Final

pit/ bit rapid/ rabbit cap/ cab

Find similar sets of minimal pairs for each pair of consonants given.

a. /k/ - /ɡ/ d. /b/ - /v/ g. /s/ - /ʃ/b. /m/ - /n/ e. /b/ - /m/ h. /ʧ/ - /ʤ/c. /l/ - /r/ f. /p/ - /f/ i. /s/ - /z/

Fromkin, Rodman & Hymes. Ch.7. Exercise 1.

Stressing out about stress?

• primary stress: / ˈ / as in /əˈbaʊt/, /ˈbeɪsɪk/, /bəˈnænɑ/

• secondary stress: /ˌ / as in /ˌlɪŋˈɡwɪs.tɪks/, /ˈaɪsˌkɹiːm/

Connected Speech

• Pronunciation of individual words changes in context

• Depending on the sentence stress, some words are „weakened“ (so-called weak forms)

• Typically function words

The North Wind & the Sun ðə ˈnɔɹθ ˌwɪnd ən ə ˈsʌn wɚ dɪsˈpjuɾɪŋ ˈwɪtʃ wəz ðə ˈstɹɑːŋgɚ, wɛn ə ˈtɹævlɚ ˌkeɪm əˈlɑːŋ ˈɹæpt ɪn ə ˈwɔɹm ˈkloʊk.ðeɪ əˈgɹiːd ðət ðə ˈwʌn hu ˈfɚst səkˈsiːdəd ɪn ˈmeɪkɪŋ ðə ˈtɹævlɚ ˈteɪk ɪz ˈkloʊk ˌɑf ʃʊd bi kənˈsɪdɚd ˈstɹɑːŋgɚ ðən ðɪ ˈʌðɚ.ðɛn ðə ˈnɔɹθ ˌwɪnd ˈbluː əz ˈhɑɹd əz hi ˈkʊd, bət ðə ˈmɔɹ hi ˈbluː ðə ˈmɔɹ ˈkloʊsli dɪd ðə ˈtɹævlɚ ˈfoʊld hɪz ˈkloʊk əˈɹaʊnd ɪm;ˌæn ət ˈlæst ðə ˈnɔɹθ ˌwɪnd ˌgeɪv ˈʌp ði əˈtɛmpt. ˈðɛn ðə ˈsʌn ˈʃaɪnd ˌaʊt ˈwɔɹmli ənd ɪˈmiːdiətli ðə ˈtɹævlɚ ˈtʊk ˌɑf ɪz kloʊk.ən ˈso ðə ˈnɔɹθ ˌwɪnd wəz əˈblaɪdʒ tɪ kənˈfɛs ðət ðə ˈsʌn wəz ðə ˈstɹɑŋgɚ əv ðə ˈtuː.

The North Wind & the Sun The North Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger, when a traveler came along wrapped in a warm cloak.

They agreed that the one who first succeeded in making the traveler take his cloak off should be considered stronger than the other.

Then the North Wind blew as hard as he could, but the more he blew the more closely did the traveler fold his cloak around him;

and at last the North Wind gave up the attempt. Then the Sun shined out warmly, and immediately the traveler took off his cloak.

And so the North Wind was obliged to confess that the Sun was the stronger of the two.

Your Turn!

Fill in the blanks (weak forms) in either British or American English.

Exercise from Roach, Ch.12

There is one major error in each transcription line that is an impossible pronunciation for any American English speaker.

The error may consist of an extra symbol, a missing symbol, or a wrong symbol in the word.

Note that the phonetic given is a narrow transcription; aspiration is marked, as is the nasalization of vowels. This is to illustrate a detailed transcription.

However, none of the errors involve aspiration or nasalization of vowels.

Write the word in which the error occurs in the correct phonetic transcription.

„The Walrus and the Carpenter“ by Lewis Carroll

Fromkin, Rodman & Hymes. Ch.6. Exercise 4.

a. ðǝ tʰajm hæz cʌm [kʰʌm]b. ðǝ wɔlrǝs sedc. tʰu tʰɔlk ǝv mɛni θĩŋzd. ǝv ʃuz ãnd ʃɪpse. ænd silĩŋ wæxf. ǝv kʰæbǝɡǝz ænd kʰĩŋz g. ænd wɛθǝr pʰɪɡz hæv wĩŋz

„The Walrus and the Carpenter“ by Lewis Carroll